


first loves

by satsukimomoi



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: Character Study, Childhood Friends, Coming of Age, F/M, Feminist Themes, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-06-02
Packaged: 2020-03-30 22:33:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19036948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/satsukimomoi/pseuds/satsukimomoi
Summary: "Somewhere along the line, a love for dueling became a love for dueling him, and that became something else entirely that she couldn’t quite place."Ryou and Asuka cherish the past and look to the future, with a bit of chaos in between.(end of s1 rewrite kind of, lots of asuka character study and sweet "kids trying to figure out what they want to do in life while building healthy relationships and supporting each other" things)





	1. the ocean

**Author's Note:**

> quick disclaimer: i'm 21 years old, and i want to be as careful as possible when writing teenage characters for a show that is primarily aimed at children. if, at any point, my description of the characters or their actions seems inappropriate as an adult writer, please don't hesitate to let me know, and any sections that are deemed unsafe will be immediately removed. i want this space to remain as safe as possible for all the kids out there who still watch and love yugioh!  
> thanks so much in advance to anyone who reads/supports my work! i love u all so much!!

The ocean carried a rhythm that had always felt familiar, with a tide that swayed back and forth like a duel swaying turn by turn. As terrifying as the endless possibilities hidden in its depths might have seemed, Asuka felt hopeful when she watched each ripple of blue bounce sunlight off its surface. Every wave that crashed into the rocky cliffs below sent a sparkling veil of mist into the air around her, and the cool dampness against her cheek reminded her that she was alive. The ocean was equal parts loving and powerful, just like she was— and the lighthouse was the ocean’s safe place, just like it had become for her.

Like the lighthouse, Ryou had been constant and implacable, insisting on seeing her each day at the same time at the same place with the same question:

_ “Have you found any clues?” _

Asking was merely a courtesy. She knew by the hollows that had formed under his piercing blue eyes that any clue about Fubuki’s disappearance couldn’t possibly escape his notice— but he asked anyway, if only to quietly let her know that she could talk about anything, the way  _ he _ talked to  _ her _ about anything. She cherished those moments of ease that he allowed himself to feel in the midst of the whirlwind that was the “Kaiser” name, and she cherished the place where he could simply be Ryou. Ryou who held her hand when she needed to cry and reminded her that there was no such thing as an endless night. Ryou who listened to her frustrations and ramblings about Judai and Manjoume’s infernal banter. Ryou who watched over her as she watched over the ocean.

“I’m going to miss this place,” she sighed into the fresh, foggy air.

“If anything,  _ I _ should be the one missing it. It’ll still be here when you come back next year.”

“Yeah...but it won’t really be the same, you know?”

“I know,” he offered somberly. The nights he had spent at the pier alone had been cold and dreary, and despite Titan’s subsequent defeat at Asuka’s swift hand, Ryou had preferred the comfort of knowing that she was safe and close by. She was fierce and capable and reliable, but she had allowed herself to accept his help, and he thought no less of her for it.

“On the bright side, Big Brother will probably make me frantic enough to forget about everything I’m going to miss.”

“So, since then, he’s…?”

“Mhm. He’ll be fine now— in body and soul, he’s back to being old Fubuki.”

“That’s a relief…now I can graduate with no regrets,” he smiled a smile as gentle as the morning tide, and his eyes reflected its deep blue-green hue as he turned to face her. “I’ll graduate for Fubuki, as well.”

As she matched his smile, the burnt gold of her eyes mingled with rich aqua, and her words melted from her pink, perfectly glossed lips. “Thank you, Ryou.”

She spoke with a softness, but also a passion and an honesty that he had always seen most clearly in the arena. She was a duelist through and through, and she was also a girl— a girl with a will of iron and a passion of fire, and hearing her speak with such a sweetness made him think her even more a warrior. “I should thank you as well,” he said evenly.

“Huh?”

“Asking for support often means being vulnerable, and being someone you could trust enough to turn to for help is a role I consider a great honor.”

She was used to his matter-of-factness both on and off the dueling field— knowing that he held his truths so openly made her trust his conviction even more. But there was special kind of satisfaction to be felt when his truth came with an affection and respect that were reserved only for her. It was an unintentional form of flattery that felt so sincere, and she allowed herself pride in knowing how much he valued her words and her confidence— not because he was the greatest duelist on the island or a legend in the making, but because he was a precious friend, and he was hers.

“You’ve never given me a reason not to trust you,” she said, the waves of gold in her eyes shining against the summer sun. “Besides, it’s not like I would’ve been able to hide it from you anyway.”

“And if you could— would you still have told me?” an intensity began to glaze his expression, as if instinctively prepared to express how readily he would have been by her side regardless.

Her own gaze softened to sweet golden ember, its reassuring warmth burning into her smile. “Of course.”

And for a moment, he allowed himself to become lost. Lost at sea in memories of their shared burdens and laughs and hugs and lighthouse meetings that had somehow turned into rendezvouses along the way. Lost in the damp breeze that made strands of spun gold cling to her forehead and cheeks. Lost in the excitement that lit up her eyes and her smile and her entire body whenever she drew  _ just _ the card she needed. Before long, he was lost in her altogether.

“I’m glad,” he began, contemplating the words that had hidden behind his lips and whether or not she needed to hear them. Ryou considered himself to be brave— as a brother, as a duelist, and as a friend, he had always felt an obligation to be prepared for risk. Yet, in the face of her immeasurable resilience and unwavering courage, he felt uncertainty in how well he could nurture her destined greatness in the midst of his  _ own _ wants. Nonetheless, the epiphany had already struck.

“So, what now?” she asked.

And he withheld the words for another day. “I think my path has been marked pretty clearly for me as of now now. It’ll be a shift, but being on the field will be familiar enough. What about you?”

“I can’t say I’ve had a lot of time to think about it— beyond finding Big Brother, at least. I knew we  _ would _ find him of course, but I guess I never really thought about what comes  _ after _ .”

Asuka’s future had been on his mind more often than not. Before Fubuki’s return, it had been a light which Ryou felt obligated to protect— if not for the inevitable success and respect that her skills would earn, then only for the joy which she deserved to pursue. He had never stopped to wonder how much of her future would involve  _ him _ , and the thought of her simply being happy and safe had felt satisfying enough, regardless of the role he would play. Even so, he allowed himself the selfishness of hoping that no matter how much their paths diverged, he could be her safe place. Somehow.

“That’s the fun part, I suppose— all those roads are yours to choose from.”

“Yeah, maybe one day I’ll teach you a thing or two in the pro arena!” she teased, only partially in jest. She was one of the rare few on the island with the skill and mettle to face him more than once, and she still never won. Even so, each duel awoke in her less of a hunger for victory and more of a longing to see as many sides of him as she could in a lifetime.

“It’s a welcome possibility. I’ve already learned a great deal from you as it is,” he said with a seriousness that caught her off-guard. She had always approached each of their duels, and even their conversations, with the expectation that she would learn something— whether it was about the game, about the world, or about him. And as intent as he always was in listening and valuing her word, she had wondered deep down if there was really anything to teach him that he didn't already know. She felt comfort knowing that she had given him  _ something _ , however small it might have been.

“I think it goes without saying that I’ve learned a lot from you, too.”

Dueling had always been their first love. It always would be. And somehow, the familiarity that was his presence made the countless surprises of each duel that much more exciting. Ryou as an opponent had still always been Ryou, and sharing opposite ends of the arena felt just like the sunny afternoons they spent under a tree in middle school, setting cards on freshly mowed grass and forgetting to keep track of Life Points.

Yet, there was a special kind of eagerness that she felt when he faced her on the field— an eagerness to not only see the strength which would take him to heights unreachable, but to love dueling as freely as he did. Somewhere along the line, a love for dueling became a love for dueling him, and that became something else entirely that she couldn’t quite place.

“Can I ask you a favor?”

He turned to face her completely, the sunlit ocean surface still glittering hypnotically in her eyes. “Always.”

“Call if you need something, or even if you don’t,” she began, clasping her strong, graceful hands together in front of her. “I don’t know how prompt Big Brother is in between all the casting calls he’s constantly applying for,  _ or _ that one second-year in Ra Yellow that he’s got his eye on, but I’ll make sure he sets aside some time, you know, just in case…”

“I’ll call on the weekends whenever scheduling permits. It might not be the same as being out here with a view like this, but we’ll take what we can get,” —despite his words, the view was now completely ignored, and all he could see was her. “Just make sure you meet me halfway, yeah?”

“Of course.”

He was seized by an instinct to inch forward and enter a space that she had shared with him time and time again— in moments of fear and sorrow, and in moments of bliss. “I’m going to miss you,” he whispered, so quietly that his words could have been swept away with the breeze.

She held onto them as intensely as she now held his gaze, finding comfort in the waves of blue that swayed and splashed and swirled in his irises. “And I, you.”

Her hand was soft and impossibly gentle against his cheek, catching wisps of aquatic hair in between her fingers. He turned his face to smile into her palm, his lips pressed against her life line, and for a moment, the future’s vast unknown faded into the present— into the gilded sheen of her eyes and the blooming rose of her cheeks and the faint sweetness of vanilla that clung to her skin. The inevitable goodbyes and the distance that his graduation would bring melted into a a closeness that he wanted to immortalize onto her lips. Still, he waited.

“We should head back,” he sighed against her hand, now held beneath his own. “Fubuki’s probably looking for you.”

She brushed her thumb tenderly against his cheek before offering a playful eye roll. “I have  _ complete _ confidence that he’s keeping himself occupied.”

“Yeah...” he laughed nervously, giving her hand a squeeze, “that’s what concerns me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aren't they so sweet i love these lil cyber art kids and their lighthouse dates, and if the show won't remember the sweet bond they have then I WILL! THEY DESERVE TO BE HAPP!!  
> hello girls and gays, this is my first ever ygo fic which is a huge surprise considering that i've been into the original since i was like 7. but i'm only about halfway-ish through gx at the moment, so if there are any major plot discrepancies or characterization issues, feel free to leave me a comment and i'm happy to make any changes! asuka very quickly became one of my favorite duel girls and it is my duty to make content for girls who deserved better, so here we are writing premature fics for her.  
> 


	2. the magician

Manjoume winced slightly at the empty space he felt in his pocket when he instinctively reached for his deck. He had no reason to care, of course— what were a few pieces of Ojama trash compared to Miss Tenjouin’s love? What was dueling if it couldn’t give the satisfaction that he felt when she smiled? His cards were better off being carried somewhere far away by the island breeze.

_Along with my chances of being with her._

Competing for her affections was practically out of the question. The Kaiser had never even needed to _try_ winning over every single heart in the academy. He simply had to exist with his dueling and his charming smile and his perfect bone structure and—

_God, it’s happening to me, too!_

He couldn’t blame Asuka or even the Kaiser for being the most sought after duelists on the island, in both skill _and_ love. Nor could he blame them for watching each other’s duels with such overflowing tenderness and pride— and when they dueled each other? The rest of the world just seemed to fade into a peripheral fog. Naturally, rumors had swirled throughout the halls since entrance exams about the monarchs of Obelisk Blue and their unabashed closeness, although in between racking up countless victories and rejecting countless love letters, neither of them had ever seemed to listen.

Manjoume felt a twinge of guilt at even _considering_ coming between them, as well as a searing frustration— with his luck, and with himself. His mind became clouded in a confused murk, though he was soon too distracted by the sand that Junko unknowingly kicked into his mouth to care.

As a wall of water bellowed in the distance, the beach became drowned in girlish squeals aimed at its surfer.

“It’s Fubuki, but he’s spraying the waves!” Manjoume observed with a flabbergasted expression that seemed to catch Fubuki’s attention. He approached the shore to find the duelist turned surfer entertaining Junko and Momoe’s insatiable affection with autographs.

 _Oh, he is_ smooth _smooth— that’s it! This guy’s_ definitely _a magician of love!_

Perhaps it _was_ selfish to place any obstacles amidst Miss Tenjouin’s feelings, as pure and utterly divine as the heavens themselves. Yet, when Manjoume thought about the expanse of darkness that enveloped him so sinisterly, when he thought about how it may have driven him mad without the soft halo of light that she created by simply _being—_ selfishness seemed a small price to pay. He spat out some lingering crumbs of sand before clumsily falling to Fubuki’s feet, a groveling bundle of tired, desperate nerves. “Master, please lend poor Jun Manjoume your power!”

* * *

“Is that right?”

Bursts of pinks and oranges spilled from the sun’s last peek over the horizon, bathing the beach and its last two inhabitants in a warm glow. Fubuki smoothed the slight frizz from his bangs, still damp from the afternoon’s surf, with a knowing sparkle in the rich brown of his eyes. “So that ‘love’ that’s worrying you… it’s Asuka, right?”

Manjoume’s breath hitched in his throat, thought after thought pounding at his skull and sending his gut into a lurch. Would he be scolded? Forbidden from getting too close to Miss Tenjouin again? Would he have to duel blindfolded with one hand tied to his foot to prove his worth as a man?

 _Big brothers are protective_ — _most of them anyway._

Instead, Fubuki’s lips curled into a comforting smile. “Back then, your feelings were echoing into space,” he looked to the heavens that had become his namesake. Love was a great power, and he knew better than most how far Asuka’s had taken her. Though she had insisted that her love was only for dueling, he could only hope that she’d find room in her heart for more than her cards.

“Uh, I’m sorry. Despite her being your sister…” Manjoume began, only to be surprised once more.

“You don’t have to apologize— I’m _always_ an ally to those in love! Besides, Asuka is her own person, and her feelings can’t be gatekept by me,” he said before winking mischievously. “All I do is plant the seeds and wait for them to grow.”

“Still, she already has the Kaiser…”

“How’s that? We don’t know the feelings people have,”

The Kaiser road had been traveled perhaps one too many times. After countless nudges and full-blown machinations to coax both of them into confessing, Fubuki had almost given up on matchmaking one of Asuka’s first friends into her first love. Ultimately, being close to her seemed to have been enough for Ryou regardless, and Fubuki felt content in giving Asuka another path to travel. Although, the uncertainty that had carved shadows under Manjoume’s eyes was proof enough that maybe he was better off seeing them as just that— close.

“How should we tell Asuka how you feel, Manjoume?” Fubuki wracked his brain of the immeasurably convoluted schemes he’d devised to his impossible sister towards romance— with _countless_ boys, girls, and anyone in between, and she had effortlessly shattered them all. And then it hit him, “That’s _it!_ With a duel!”

“A _duel?_ ”

“See, what we call ‘love’ is too subtle, and it’s hard to see its true form. But, if you factor in the _signs,_ the duel _itself_ becomes a barometer for love!”

There had never been a place where Asuka shined more than in the arena— her bullheaded stubbornness became her spirit, and her insatiable curiosity became her wisdom. And a duel was the time when one could not only see her true self, but understand her true feelings. Suddenly, it was as if the empty space in Manjoume’s coat pocket was filled with hot coals, and he ached to stand on the other side of the field and _feel_ again. “But, right now, I—” he didn’t have time to feel ashamed of his decision to throw his deck away. The ghost of an infuriatingly nasal _Big Bro!_ rang towards him with Pharaoh’s sleepy meows and muffled _pap pap pap_ in the sand.

_“We found the deck that you treasure more than life, Big Bro!”_

Manjoume would be caught dead in the forest well before he openly expressed relief at hearing the Ojama Brothers’ mind-numbing squeaks again— that didn’t mean he couldn’t feel it. He gently tugged the damp, creased stack of cards from Pharaoh’s chubby lips before pondering on the Brothers once more. “My deck…”

“Mind if I take a look at it?” Fubuki sifted through the slightly soggy cards, making mental notes here and there and quietly enjoying how well-loved they seemed to be. Though he didn’t have the heart to take any of them out, he still had a plan. “It’s a good deck, but it won’t do well if it just stays like this. _Attracting_ is also important— love is a big attraction, you know!”

“R-Right. That’s how you got Makurada and Hamaguchi into you?”

“Nah, you could call them two more of my students. Junko was in a similar pinch as you are, you could say. She’s not the most experienced duelist in the world, but she has guts— with a little help from yours truly, using them to finally confess was a breeze for her, as was her first date with Momoe last week.”

“So, they were into each _other_ this whole time, not into _you?_ ”

 _He really_ is _a magician of love!_

“Indubitably! and I have no intention of failing my newest pupil,” Fubuki smirked confidently. “The rest simply lies in how to get _Asuka_ into a duel of love…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> everyone who’s here to cherish manjoume raise your hand, and everyone who isn’t you’re a FOOL!! writing this sweet boy is surprisingly difficult, but i think i managed to capture his pining without making it too one-dimensional. i’m not 100% satisfied, but i’ve had this fic drafted for like a year so it’s now or never. please give lots of feedback and Tell ur Friends!


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